The Clippers, who were chased by the Warriors to single digits, immediately responded with an 8-0 score to the Warriors to open the score again.
Force Mark Jackson to call another timeout to stabilize the team's morale. After all, the Warriors played well, but they still couldn't beat them.
I thought that the strength of the two sides was shrinking and getting closer over the past summer, but I didn't know that the gap between the two sides was probably even wider.
However, the Warriors team is definitely not simple. They have regarded the Clippers as their imaginary enemy and target since the 11-12 season.
Recruiting Mark Jackson as coach, signing Bogut, and drafting Lillard, the team's tactics and configuration are all geared toward the Clippers.
As early as the 2009-10 season, from the moment the Clippers snatched Curry away in the draft, the Warriors were keenly aware that the Clippers might be their main opponent for their subsequent revival.
Therefore, the Warriors' management and coaching staff have always paid close attention to the Clippers' trends and understood the Clippers' tactics, system, and player growth.
The Warriors, like the Clippers, have been a bad team for many years. During the period of rapid development of the NBA in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, they were with them throughout the entire process.
They also have a bad boss, a chaotic management system, and very unfortunate luck. They are in the same boat as the Clippers.
However, with the development of the technology industry and the rise of the Internet industry, a large number of new wealthy people have emerged in Silicon Valley and the Bay Area.
The sports industry is also an indicator and reflection of local economic development to a certain extent.
Old-money's dominance in the NBA gradually disintegrated with the advent of the new century, and upstarts gradually emerged, bringing new management concepts and team atmosphere.
Like the Grizzlies, Thunder, Warriors, Heat, and Mavericks, these are all teams with light historical burdens. They have active tactical thinking, quick transformation, and eclectic selection of players.
Including the San Antonio Spurs, whose style of play seems old-fashioned, but in fact they just have an ugly style of play. They are definitely the league's benchmark in management and talent training, and they continuously provide various talents to other teams in the league.
The Warriors also jumped on this express train after changing their owners. New capital injections, new team building concepts and tactical styles have laid a good foundation for the Warriors.
Like the Clippers, this team is dominated by young people. The atmosphere in the team is very good, the relationship between the players is very good, and the combat effectiveness is very strong.
They will lose, but they won't give up the game easily.
After the timeout, the Warriors adjusted their offensive direction and began to attack the position.
Klay Thompson caught the ball and used the pick-and-roll to hit the basket directly, causing Randolph to get a defensive foul and go to the free throw line.
Thompson made two free throws, and then in defense, Thompson began to guard Curry one-on-one, putting Lillard in a protective position and just staring at George on the weak side.
Thompson is 2 meters tall, with a strong body, a solid base, and very good defensive confrontation ability and awareness. After all, his father is the number one pick, so he must have practiced a lot in all aspects since he was a child. From shooting posture to defensive posture, he is all very standard.
When Min Congda saw this adjustment, he sat on the chair with his legs crossed and moved his buttocks slightly. He thought to himself: "Mark Jackson, you finally got the idea. You know how to let Thompson put pressure on Curry. What did you do early?"
Throughout the first half and until the third quarter, Curry was the Clippers' well-deserved number one offensive engine.
Whether it is a quick attack or a positional battle, Curry is the real commander. It can be said that the rhythm of this game so far is in Curry's hands.
Only then did Mark Jackson remember to let his defensive arrows put pressure on Curry, so that he would not be so easy to pass and organize.
It can only be said that Jackson's reaction was slow enough. If it were Min Congda, after the first timeout in the first quarter, he would start asking players to hunt Curry.
Of course, a coach like Min Congda who plays in tournaments is the only Scorpion's tail in the entire league. Other coaches will not make targeted adjustments very early when directing the regular season.
It was not too late for Jackson to start changing in the middle of the third quarter. Thompson's one-on-one pressing defense did cause some trouble for Curry.
Curry tried to use a fake move to get past Thompson and tear apart the Warriors' defense, but failed. He passed the ball to Gasol in the middle, and Gasol made a very smart pass to George who was cutting through the air.
However, George's layup was interfered by Bogut and missed. The Warriors launched a counterattack. Thompson received the pass from the wing and quickly hit a three-pointer!
This kid's three-point shot is really decisive and accurate. He catches the ball and takes the shot in one go. The key is that he is very confident. He seems to believe that he can score when he takes the shot.
This kind of confidence has been cultivated since he was a child. He is extremely confident in his shooting. Even if there is only a 0.1 second gap and only a small chance to make a shot, he will still aim at the basket and throw the ball out.
For example, some people who are not confident in their shooting, even if there is no one in front of them and the three-meter radius is bare, they still dare not shoot when they stand on the three-point line with the ball and have to pass the ball to their teammates.
This kind of talent and accumulation cannot be developed overnight.
But Curry immediately retaliated. Instead of holding the ball to challenge Thompson one-on-one, he passed the ball to Randolph first.
Then he used Gasol's screen to get rid of Thompson's defense. Thompson was very close. Curry received his teammate's return and faked a breakthrough with the ball. He suddenly retreated, stepped back to the three-point line and shot directly, and hit!
Thompson followed the ball very closely, and the last shot was in the face, but Curry was still able to make the ball.
Lillard, on the other hand, repeatedly used the screens of Bogut and David Lee in the corner position. After getting rid of the defense, he caught the ball and faced Gasol's big defense. He made a mid-range jumper from the corner and hit!
One ball after another, one shot after another, both sides showed extremely high shooting levels and skills.
Min Congda was amazed when he saw it. There were some shots that would have been impossible to shoot 10 years ago because they were not opportunities at all.
For example, Thompson's emergency three-pointer after a quick counterattack and Curry's step-back three-pointer are both good defenses and should not have a chance to shoot.
But the two of them used their superb shooting skills to seize opportunities that were not opportunities, showing people a new realm of shooting.
Lillard's attack just now also reflected the improvement in the role of shooting. If it had been 10 years earlier, this kind of one-on-one wing defense would have allowed the small guard to most likely go to the bottom line and break through directly.
Like Iverson, Marbury, and Ginobili, attacking the basket is their first choice, but Lillard chose a step-back drift shot and still made it.
Shooting has always been the most important scoring method in basketball, but starting from this season, its importance has once again increased.
For the audience at the scene and the fans in front of the TV, everyone can clearly feel that a new way of basketball competition has been formed this season.
At the end of the third quarter, the two sides played very smoothly in the second half of the third quarter. There was only one official timeout, and the coaches on both sides handed the game over to the players.
The Clippers ended the third quarter with an 8-point lead at 95:87. The Clippers still had the upper hand, but the Warriors were not to be outdone, and the condition of the pitchers on both sides was getting better and better.
In the fourth quarter, the two sides will enter a decisive battle. The score in this game seems to be very high. Both sides have exceeded 110 points, which does not seem to be a problem.
(End of chapter)
